The NHL carefully crafted its image of Southern California to fill the spaces surrounding the ice rink at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

In left field, a group of beach volleyball players rallied on a standard sand court. In right field, the band KISS took over a stage for concerts before the game and during the first intermission. Between the pitcher’s mound and home plate, a pint-sized street hockey rink played host to the first hockey ever at Dodger Stadium — among local kids dressed in Kings and Ducks sweaters.

The patches of grass in between supported all sorts of shenanigans: People tossing frisbees, beach balls and footballs, skaters on roller skates, skateboarders on skateboards — even a group of women stretching in yoga poses.

Since the game was broadcast on “Hockey Night in Canada” as well as NBC Sports Network, all of North America might have been left with the impression that this is what everyone in Southern California does for fun.

The concept was the brainchild of RK Productions, a Manhattan firm hired by the league to fill out the game-day presentation. RK Productions reps scoured the beaches of Southern California and hired people — actual beach bums, not actors — to participate in the activities.

As for the kids playing hockey, they’re not actors, either. They were plucked from local youth teams to participate

Twelve-year-old Sarah O’Brien said her parents told her earlier this month that she and her Lady Kings teammates had been invited.

“I was like, whoa, that’s awesome,” she said.

The NHL donated the equipment, part of a league-wide initiative called the “NHL Street Program” that introduces kids to hockey at the minimum cost of a stick and a ball. Ken Martin, the NHL’s vice president of community affairs and diversity programming, said that the program reaches 500,000 kids nationally.

Ducks updates

Defenseman Bryan Allen, who was unable to finish Thursday’s game after being checked by Kings forward Trevor Lewis, was back in the lineup.

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf played his 606th game, which tied Paul Kariya for fourth on the franchise’s all-time games played list.

Also

The temperature was 63 degrees when the puck dropped at 7:17 p.m., and dropped below 60 by the start of the third period. … Longtime Kings broadcaster Bob Miller and longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully shared the MC duties before the game. Scully had the last word: “And now it’s time for … NHL hockey!”. … Wayne Gretzky dropped the ceremonial first puck. … Kings organist Dieter Ruehle provided much of the soundtrack before the game and during game stoppages. He used his own keyboard, not the Dodger Stadium organ played by Nancy Bea Hefley. … Willie O’Ree, who broke hockey’s color barrier in 1957, attended the game. … In true baseball style, several players on both sides wore eye black.

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